There aren’t many hymns or faith-based songs for entering a new year – but it seems to me there should be. No, it isn’t a significant event of the Christian calendar. But it is a time when many of us find ourselves pondering a bit the meaning of time, and wondering (with mixed hope and anxiety?) what the coming twelve months hold for us, those we love, and our world.
One hymn that addresses the changing years is in The Hymnal, #265, Great God, We Sing That Mighty Hand:
Great God, we sing that mighty hand
By which supported still we stand;
The opening year Your mercy shows;
That mercy crowns it till it close.
With grateful hearts the past we own;
The future, all to us unknown,
We to Your guardian care commit,
And peaceful leave before Your feet.
In scenes exalted or depressed,
You are our joy, and You our rest;
Your goodness all our hopes shall raise,
Adored through all our changing days.
I would like to be able to hold on to such a spirit of trust throughout the days to come; wouldn’t you?
And finally, from a hymn I’ve always enjoyed, All Beautiful the March of Days (#292 in The Hymnal), a stanza that raises new year notes of praise:
O Thou from whose unfathomed law The year in beauty flows,
Thyself the vision passing by In crystal and in rose,
Day unto day doth utter speech, And night to night proclaim,
In ever-changing words of light, The wonder of Thy name.
Happy New Year!
Presbyterian Church in Burlington 